New Delhi: India and Russia will look to strengthen their “economic diplomacy” during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow this week, Alok Kumar, honourary governing body member and director of the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry, writes for Russia Today.
His report — ‘Energy, defence, diplomacy: what’s at stake on Modi’s Russia trip‘ — says that struggling with Western sanctions, Moscow has been “eagerly awaiting the arrival of its time-tested ally”. At the same time, “New Delhi aims to prolong its strategic cooperation with Moscow while balancing its ties with the West” amid the Ukraine war.
Kumar writes that India depends on Russia for energy and defence modernisation, and companies are keen to acquire stakes in the Russian hydrocarbons sector, vacated by the West. Meanwhile, Russia has supported ‘Make in India’, inviting Indian firms to develop its new regions, as well as India’s free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union that has Russia as a member state, and the International North-South Transport Corridor’ development, which will boost economic ties.
New Delhi is attempting to counter-balance US and European sanctions on Moscow to ensure that Russia “doesn’t have to put all its eggs into the Chinese basket”, reports The Wall Street Journal in ‘India’s Modi seeks to shore up ties with Russia and offset China’s sway‘.
The report says that Modi’s Russia trip will end the “misgivings that there is a dilution in India-Russia ties due to Western pressure” and be an opportunity for Moscow to show it has “influential friends”. The two sides, it adds, will try to sort out their differences over Indians on the frontlines of the Ukraine war while shoring up their trade and logistics ties.
Highlighting the timing, it says, “Modi will arrive in Moscow just as Washington prepares to host a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation meeting that will focus on supporting Ukraine as the war drags on.”
The Economist report, ‘Indians have grown used to getting nice things from politicians’, highlights that the ‘personalisation’ of welfare schemes, with photos of Modi plastered on vaccine certificates, grain shops, and health clinics, is no longer enough to win votes. In the recently concluded general elections, the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party’s biggest losses were in “the poor, rural states where most welfare beneficiaries live”.
In an analysis of the situation, the piece notes that while people are “happy to get food and money from the government”, many “would have preferred better jobs, better health care facilities and better schools for their children”. Welfarism, asserts the piece, is more easily done than creating jobs and building infrastructure.
An Al Jazeera report, ‘Gen Z, social media helping fuel spiritual tourism in India‘, highlights a new trend — the younger generation opting to visit temples, some located in remote parts, over nightclubs. The inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya has fuelled interest in spiritual tourism, journalist Gurvinder Singh writes, adding that social media and government investment in road and transport infrastructure drive the trend.
The report highlights that “the rise in spiritual tourism has been profitable for the sectors connected with it, including hospitality and retail, which are jumping on the trend with wellness packages, including yoga retreats, meditation centres, and food and shopping around those themes” and that Amritsar, Ajmer, Varanasi, Ayodhya, and Puri are the cities “witnessing this bloom”.
French election result comes as a surprise & protests in Israel
France is looking at a hung parliament after the parliamentary election, which saw Marine Le Pen’s far-Right National Rally receive a surprising blow, losing in contradiction to all opinion polls. The Left-wing New Popular Front won the maximum votes, with Macron’s centrist alliance trailing in second position. To know more, read the BBC’s coverage.
Protesters have once again taken to the streets in Israel, demanding a ceasefire nine months into the war in Palestine. Tensions are already surfacing within Netanyahu’s government over a ceasefire, the return of hostages, and the announcement of fresh elections. To know more, read The New York Times’ report.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also read: ‘Fawning’ media got poll predictions wrong & what a Modi visit to Kremlin means for geopolitics